Allen USA Celebration

On Saturday we went to Geego and Nanny's house for Allen's 4th of July celebration. The park was one street over from their house. We could walk back and forth from their house to the celebration.

All the kids wanted to ride in the stroller so we made it work! We got quiet a few looks riding like this! We figured up that with 4 kids and the weight of the stroller, Matt was pushing about 200 pounds!!
Kaylie, Geego, Heath and Chandler walking in the park towards the spray park
Kaylie - the boy's beautiful cousin that they met for the first time! She lives in Michigan and came down with Grandma, her dad - Brad and Brad's girlfriend - Janet to visit.

Chandler at the spray water park

This is the picture I took right before we lost Heath. We lost him for about 10 minutes!!! We were looking frantically for him when a guy asked Matt, "Are you looking for a little boy?" Matt told him yes and he pointed to a police man. Across the field a police man was holding Heath! When Matt returned with Heath, we had looked every where and I was just about in tears!!!!! We didn't let him out of our sight after that!

Grandma giving Dylan lemonade

Grandma ended up giving Hanna her own bottle of lemonade!

After the spray park we decided to go to the HOA pool. The boys didn't really want to get in at first but as you can see in these pictures, they started having fun very quickly!

Chandler learned how to go underwater!
Heath in his spiderman goggles!

Geego and Heath
Geego helping Chandler put on his arm floats
Heathie going under water
With the arm floats on, Chandler could go swimming on his own

Brad, Janet, Nanny, Geego, Julia, Karolyn and Jeff
Heath, Nanny, Jennifer, Chandler, Julia, Kayla, Geego, Matt, Kaylie, Jeff and Karolyn
Julia & Kayla = Nanny's nieces; Jeff = Geego's twin brother; Karolyn = Jeff's fiance

Kayla, Kaylie and Chandler watching fireworks in Geego and Nanny's front yard. It was sprinkling a little so that's why they are under the umbrella.
Heath and Daddy
Chan and Mommy
Everyone camped on Geego and Nanny's front walkway watching the fireworks!

VBS After Party

Last week was Vacation Bible School at our church. Chandler, bring the big 5 year old, was finally old enough to go without me working it! Friday night was Family Night. They had a big water slide and two bounce houses.

Chandler waiting in line for the water slide
Chandler at the top... that guy would pick the kids up above his head and rocket (more like throw) them down the slide! I was a bit frightened seeing him to that to my sweet Chan Chan! That's Chan careening down!
Poor little Heathie was too short to go down the slide... Here he is watching Bubba and the other kids slide time and time again.
Because he was standing there with such a sad face, one of the guys said, "Do you want to just get in the water for a minute?" Heath said yes so I lifted in over into the little pool and the guy splashed him a few times. As soon as he got in, he started to cry! I got him out and asked him what was wrong. He said, "I no want to get wet...!?!"

So, we took off his wet shirt and went to bounce in the bounce houses!
Crazy jumpin' boy!
Actually caught a close up through the mesh...

Chandler never came to jump in the bounce house. He spend the whole hour sliding down the water slide, waiting in line and doing it again and again and again! He teamed up with his friend from school, Hayden, and they slide together. Hayden's mom was sweet enough to keep an eye on Chan for me so I could take Heath to the bounce houses.

We had a great time! Chan loved VBS! He felt SOOO big being able to go to church by himself and stay out SOOO late (9:30). My friend, Marianne, brought him home each night since the other three kiddos were already asleep for the night.

Twin's first popsicles

The boys eat Popsicles all the time but this is the first day that I've given the twins one. Dylan did great with it! He held onto it and sucked on it. Hanna did ok but she kept turning it upside down.

Babies loving their Popsicles!

All four eating their Popsicles

Another therapy appointment

Dylan's therapy appointment yesterday went very well. His OT, Amy, brought this exercise ball for Dylan to bounce on. She is trying to get him comfortable with playing on something that his feet do not touch the floor. He didn't quiet like it at first but then after Hanna tried it a few times, he really liked it. Also Amy brought a vibration toy for him. It's the green thing in his hand. It has a soft plastic gator at the top that he can put in his mouth - which of course, he does not. It continually vibrates to hopefully lessen his sensitivity to light touch. It actually seems to calm him down. He was upset when Amy got here for his therapy and as you can see in this picture, he enjoyed bouncing on the ball and LOVES the vibrating gator!! It's so awesome because each week she brings something new for Dylan to try and we get to keep the things she brings!!

Get the camera quick!

After lunch, the kids were being crazy for Ms. Joy so I told them they needed to sit down and watch a movie. I turned on "Prince of Egypt" and told them to sit down and be quite. I gave each boy and baby to be in charge of... :)

Chandler and Dylan

Heath and Hanna - You know I couldn't put Heath and Dylan together! Heath likes to hold Dylan down just to hear him yell. So, just as quick as I grabbed the camera and took the picture, the whole "sit down and watch a movie" was over! Both babies started crawling around on the boys and the quite time was over... even though it only lasted 30 seconds! :) It made for cute pictures anyway... it was a good try!

Chandler and Heath well checkup

Today was the boy's 5 & 3 year old checkups. Neither of them had to have any shots!!! They were both very excited and of course I was relieved!! Chandler is 40 3/4 pounds (50%) and 42 inches tall (35%). He has 20/25 vision and his hearing is perfect. Dr. Stone said that his hearing and vision are both above normal for his age. Heath is 31 pounds (40%) and 36 1/2 inches tall (25%). His eye sight is great too. His hearing test came back with a low score on his left ear but she checked it and said he has some wax build-up that might be causing a false reading. She was not concerned about it. I also asked her to do a urine test on him because he goes to the potty about every 30 minutes - 1 hour. That test came back great too so she said he is probably too busy to empty his bladder completely so he goes more often. So, both boys are happy, healthy, good boys!

Dylan's first therapy appointment

Today was Dylan's first official Occupational Therapy appointment. His OT's name is Amy. She comes to our house once per week to work with Dylan and show me things to help him with his gross/fine motor skills and Independence, along with other things. Today she brought three things for me to work with him with. First we played in a plastic bin of uncooked beans and noodles. This helps him with touch. He was fine to stick his hands in and play with toys in the noodles/beans but he DID NOT like his feet in! He pulled them out as quickly as I put them in! Second, she brought him something called his "fidget toy". It is a blue tube that bends, pulls apart and goes together (it reminds me of the bendy part of a straw). She said it is better than just a regular ol' toy for times when he really needs some distraction (e.i. the car, stressful, overwhelming situations, etc.) The third thing she gave me is two pressure brushes. They are very soft bristle brushes that are used to give Dylan pressure massages. I am to give him one every 2-4 hours (or as often as I can). She said that the reason for this is to apply firm pressure to his arms, legs and back to help him relax. A child with Sensory Integration Disorder responds positively to firm pressure rather than soft, smooth touch. The massaging helps his nervous system relax just as a massage would help an adult relax. And since he has a hard time relaxing, calming and self-soothing, this will hopefully help!

Amy wants him to learn to be independent in climbing and playing at home. Then once he is comfortable with that, maybe climbing and playing in public will be easier for him. So, here he is climbing on the couch cushions and the couch with his fidget toy, which he LOVES!

Amy and Dylan playing

Amy is giving Dylan a pressure massage. After his massage, I have to give him joint compressions. That just means that I have to push and pull gently, yet firmly, on his knees, ankles, shoulders, elbows and wrists. I know the message and compressions sound like alot but the whole process only takes 2-3 minutes.
He had a good visit today and seemed to respond positively to everything.